Le Poché A Brief Etymology of Charrette

“A huge stampede emptied the room; everyone went out its chassis, in the middle of the bends; those who wanted to insist on finishing a detail, were jostled, carried away. In less than five minutes, everyone’s chassis were stacked in the car, and the two bearded fellows, the last new from the workshop, harnessed themselves like beasts, ran at a run; while the flow others roared and pushed from behind. This was a lock failure, the two courses crossed in a torrential crash, the invaded, flooded street of this screaming rush.” 1

—L’Œuvre, Émile Zola

A Brief Etymology of Charrette

by Michael Bursch, Hope Halvey, and Angelica Ketcham

The Cart

It is the day of deadline, and the students of the École des Beaux-Arts’ architecture school are dashing through the busy Parisian streets from their dark, dusty ateliers to get their projects in on time. They are en charrette, pulling a small two-wheeled cart—usually used for coal or other light haulage—filled with architectural drawings. The newest students, les nouveaux, are pulling the carts as fast as they can, forcing Parisian pedestrians out of the way by shouting, “Charrette au cul!” (“The cart is coming down the street!”) Meanwhile, the older students, les anciens, are standing on the charrette, trying to put the final touches onto their plates before they arrive at the École, where the guard at the Salle Melpomene will bring the drawings into the lofty, elegant exhibition hall for the jury to critique. 2

This frantic dash to the Salle Melpomene— or “Melpo”— soon becomes a beloved element of studio culture. April 3, 1927 marks the first race of the École’s “Charrette Club,” in which the various ateliers compete to see whose workshop can most swiftly pull a cart along the designated Parisian route. Strict rules emerge, dictating how many students can participate and the allowable dimensions of the cart. Like the deadline day charrette, this one is pulled by the workshop’s nouveaux, whose youth—as the anciens reason—gives them the advantages of speed and agility. The club races remain a celebrated part of the École until its architecture program dissolves, and are emblematic of the jovial, enthusiastic culture that will perpetuate far into the future of architecture studios.

The Culture

The École des Beaux-Arts raised the standards for architectural education during the 19th and early-20th centuries. It attracted scholars from around the world, including American architects Charles Follen McKim, Louis Sullivan, and Henry Hobson Richardson, whose work in cities such as Boston, New York, and Chicago reflected both the design and planning principles taught at the Ecole.

The architecture school at the École des Beaux-Arts was highly competitive. Twice a year, the École held an entrance exam that filled a limited number of open slots. Once

“At that moment Claude, who was backing up, was almost run over by a small handcart, that two very bearded fellows led at a gallop. It was from this cart that the big night of work got its name; and for the past eight days, students, stifled by the low paid jobs of the 112 outside, repeated the cry: ‘Oh! that I am en charrette!’ As soon as it appeared, a clamor burst. It was a quarter to nine, one had just enough time to get to school.”

—L’Œuvre, Émile Zola

admitted, it was the students’ responsibility to initiate their own learning and manage their time. They chose an atelier (a studio of around 25 students run by a patron, or professor), submitted only two design projects of their choosing per semester, and attended courses that merely required the passing of a final examination. The École charged no tuition 3 ; however, students were responsible for paying their housing, studio, and other dues to their patron. Students ranged in experience in each atelier. Based on experience, a hierarchy was built; at the top were the massier: these students had been at the École the longest, and therefore were the “managers” of the ateliers. They collected dues for the professor, maintained the organization of the studio, and sometimes even accepted new students into the atelier. The next group was the anciens, or the students who had been at the École for multiple years; and the lowest group was the nouveaux, the newest students. These three groups lived symbiotically; les anciens and les massier, for example, would give advice to the nouveaux, and the nouveaux would draft and render parts of anciens’ projects as needed.

the students, called concours. Some concours were less complex, so all students were able to work on a design and submit a project. Other projects, such as the Grand Prix de Rome, were more extensive; only anciens and massiers submitted their work, and if they won, they graduated from the École des Beaux-Arts and were awarded a spot at the French Academy in Rome. 4 Regardless of the type of concours, deadlines usually occurred on a Friday. Once the projects were submitted, a jury would judge the projects behind closed doors. 5

The days leading up to the Friday deadlines were characterized by fervor and zeal as design students rushed to complete their projects on time; just like architecture students today, it was common practice to work all the way up to the time limit. Working to finish a project before its deadline felt awfully familiar to the architecture students at the École: the rush, the stress, and the camaraderie that came with putting a project together paralleled the experience of feverishly carting their projects across Paris. Therefore, the moments Emile describes that led up to deadline day also began to be called ‘charrette,’ in tandem with the literal charrette run that topped off the project experience. The school provided design projects to

Up until the École des Beaux-Arts closed their architecture school in 1968, students

“Charrettes provide a forum for ideas and offer a unique, extraordinary advantage: They provide designers both initial input and on-going feedback on their work by clients and the community. While affording client institutions full access to the creative process, including the ability to direct it through constructive and time-effective criticism.”

—Moule & Polyzoides, The Charrette Process

used charrette to refer to their final push to complete a project. This rush of activity remains a standard for architects and architecture students alike; between extra working hours and sleepless nights, the days leading up to a project deadline are the most exciting, yet exhausting, part of the design world. However, as the world advanced and the profession of architecture sought re-definition, the term “charrette” also evolved.

The name architect has its roots in the word for “master builders.” This definition stems from the Ancient Greek word for architect— “arkhitekton”— broken down into “arkhi-” (meaning “chief” or “master”), and “tekton” (meaning “builder” or “carpenter”). Therefore, architects were responsible for both the design and the construction of a building. However, during the second industrial revolution at the end of the 20th century, the world saw an expansion in building technology and construction methods. This led to greater specialization in the construction field, redefining the role of the architect as a “cog in the wheel” for the creation of large-scale projects. 6 A greater specialization of roles—such as the landscape architect, structural engineer, and construction manager—meant that collaboration and communication between different professions were becoming a crucial part of developing a successful project. The nature of the charrette, too, evolved; rather than being characterized by the struggle of sleepless, stressful nights leading up to a deadline, it was transformed to emphasize the camaraderie and collaboration that the students at the École experienced during the final stretch of a concours.

The Design Method

Today in the professional world of architecture, a charrette is considered a “coming together” of all stakeholders on a project. 7 This meeting is done in a timely manner that solves as many problems as possible by synthesizing various professional and personal perspectives of different people. Dean Polyzoides’ firm, for example, has adopted the charrette to bring together planners, architects, engineers, public officials, and citizens alike over the course of a week in order to address problems in all aspects of design. 8 As a result, this time-limited, collaborative effort at the beginning of a project

“And afterwards…what has happened to the rendering ‘charrettes’ now that the rapidograph, and then the computer, have replaced the parallel bar and the graphos?” 9

—Christophe Samoyault-Muller, “La Grande Masse des Beaux-Arts”

further utilizes the fast-paced, creative explosion of the Beaux-Arts charrette.

The Modern Academic Application

In many universities today, the traditional side of the field of architecture, but it also lem-solving skills that are required in order to

definition still holds true; schools such as Rice University 10 and the University of Virginia 11 call the last week before the deadline charrette. According to Muller, the more traditional of today’s universities “continue to focus the study of architecture on the principle of a workshop project, and on the showdown of edits between students—making it so that the ‘charrette’ is still dreaded, but paradoxically loved.”

Here at the University of Notre Dame, a charrette is often known among its students as a quick sketch of ideas done at the beginning of each assigned project, and at various stages of its progression. 12 In the future, Notre Dame’s School of Architecture hopes to implement the charrette to carry out service projects around the Midwest. This “multi-day, multi-disciplinary” design process will include faculty, staff, and students, and will be conducted at

In the end, a charrette not only exemplifies and pays homage to the fast-paced, creative is a reminder of the collaboration and probthe end of each semester. 13

succeed in large-scale projects.

Editor’s Note:

In presenting the etymology of charrette, we endeavor to show how the rich layers of its meaning are aligned with the objectives of our en charrette effort to bring you this demo issue of our magazine Stoa. This demo issue acts as a symbolic “cart” to carry the projects and ideas of students, but also embodies the more modern definition: a movement towards greater collaboration, communication, and creation within and beyond the University of Notre Dame School of Architecture. —Xinyuan Sam Zhuang